Sandton comes up with plan to end dreadful traffic jams

Sandton traffic has been a problem for many years, and a simple search of “Sandton traffic” on Twitter will show just how frustrated motorists are on a daily basis by the congestion.

On Tuesday, the Sandton Central Management District (SCMD) announced that it had entered into a partnership with the Johannesburg Metro Police Department and Traffic Freeflow to work towards improving the key traffic lights in the Sandton area in an effort to reduce the congestion on the roads during peak hours, reports BusinessTech.

Some 50 of the traffic lights in Johannesburg’s 2 135 intersections go through signal downtime every single day and this is mainly due to two things: the lack of a reliable and secure electricity supply and because the signal infrastructure is quite old.

This is according to the Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA), which has adjusted peak-hour flow timings by making them start 30 minutes earlier in the morning and in the afternoon.

These have been adjusted to window periods of 6am-9am and 3:30pm-8pm.

“We have invested in measures to ensure that key traffic signals in the district are always on. Also, we have partnered with the JRA on a number of key initiatives, including a traffic signal forum where we actively engage with both the JRA and Eskom technicians in order to reduce the signal downtime,” city improvement district manager for SCMD, Elaine Jack, said in a statement.

“We work closely with JRA management and traffic engineers to rejig traffic signal timings to ensure the best traffic flows.”

Jack also noted her excitement at the City of Johannesburg’s announcement that it would be allocating an additional R200 million specifically to manage and ameliorate traffic congestion around the city.

While Jack said the adjusted peak-hour flow timings have already made a significant difference in the congestion in Sandton, she admits that the forthcoming introduction of the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit System to the district would mean that the timings might have to be changed again.

“There has already been great improvement. We are experiencing fewer traffic signal outages within Sandton Central, as all our traffic signals have been recalled and upgraded. Going forward, we hope to engage with the JRA in order to open more road accesses into Sandton Central, which is currently restricted to the only five core entries and exits,” Jack said.